Creepshow Review: Night of the Paw/Times Is Tough In Musky Holler (Season 1 Episode 5)
Fate comes in many different forms. For Avery Whitlock, it comes with the chance arrival of Angela at his door. There’s also the case of justice, where Mayor Barclay and his cronies are literally served for punishment. On Creepshow Season 1 Episode 5, “Night of the Paw/Times Is Tough In Musky Holler,” one segment is far more satisfying than the other, but a strange dark humor lingers that makes headway.
“Night of the Paw” is easily the highlight of the episode, especially with Bruce Davison as the leading man. His charisma and gravitas lends a lot of goodwill and empathy, as the need to do right by his wife and her memory fills his character with guilt.
The monkey’s paw is an old, well-worn tale, but the angle the segment takes by making Whitlock’s story about essentially passing off the curse of the paw to another while also placing a lot of sympathy on him is a rather layered, inspired idea. He’s both kind but doing something sinister at the same time, a sleight of hand that Davison handles with care.
Angela’s side of the story is harder to read, but it feels as though it’s by design. We see that she murders her husband, possibly in an assisted way, but it’s not explained beyond that, leaving her an ambiguous figure that Whitlock sees as an opportunity to assist in his own death. It becomes a question of whether or not he sees using her as punishment for her crimes, or genuinely wants to help her.
Because of that unknown, that ambiguity lends a factor of suspense as Whitlock tells his story. The sequence of his wife coming back to life and Whitlock having to violently dispatch of her immediately calls back to the Creepshow of old, pairing horror with a wink and a nod toward dark comedy.
Irony also runs through the segment’s veins, as Angela clearly did not take any lessons from Whitlock’s story and suffers a cruel end of her own at the hands of her resurrected lover. The paw may give you what you want, but it always comes at a price. It’s an ending that takes its time to get there, but is a satisfying segment with some fun performances.
“Times Is Tough In Musky Holler,” unfortunately, does not come together.
The major problem with “Times Is Tough In Musky Holler,” is not only that it’s an elongated build-up to torture and death, but that the explanation is so brief and vague, that it steals any chance at satisfying comeuppance. We do hear what their crimes are, but it’s over in a sentence or two, their evil deeds mentioned in passing while the edging toward revenge takes center stage.
It’s also the fact that the zombie apocalypse is almost an afterthought, coming during the comic book style exposition rather than elaborated a little more and given some more context. The comic sequences are well designed and effective for transitions between segments, but end up chopping the story into bite-sized bits that aren’t as cohesive as they could be.
So while the performances are marvelously over the top in the best way possible with David Arquette, Dane Rhodes, and Karen Strassman, and the gore effects for the zombies and their attack on the guilty is well done, everything around it doesn’t carry the weight needed to pull off the segment.
Creepshow Season 1 Episode 5, “Night of the Paw/Times Is Tough In Musky Holler,” rises to the occasion with one story, and falls flat with the other. With exciting cast members, the episode musters up some clever use of storytelling tricks and perception to underscore its larger message on the first segment, but stumbles with its latter segment that causes it to feel half-baked.
The show continues to use its production to great use, however, by bathing its sets in shadow and strategic lighting to create a tone that helps its impact. But the story, at times, needs more to catch up.
What did you think of this episode of Creepshow? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
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Creepshow airs Thursdays on Shudder.
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Kevin Lever
Kevin Lever has been following television closely for most of his life, but in starting to cover it, he has grown a further appreciation. He strives to give the blockbusters their due, and give the lesser known shows a spotlight to find more fans.
One thought on “Creepshow Review: Night of the Paw/Times Is Tough In Musky Holler (Season 1 Episode 5)”
Your review is spot on. I loved “Paw” and thought the new angle on a worn tale was brilliant. Whereas I thought “Musky Holler” was rushed, and didn’t make me fell like these people deserved justice–almost like they were just trying to fill in a small time gap since “Paw” was a couple of extra minutes (or so it seemed).
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